Marcus Oliver
June 18, 2011 – December 25, 2016
Marcus was diagnosed with DIPG eight days after his 5th birthday in June 2016. The day before his diagnosis we had taken him to the doctor as he had (completely out of the blue, and only that morning) become weaker on his right side and started to slur his words. We thought he may have had a stroke and were completely unprepared for the horror diagnosis of DIPG – which we had not even heard of before 26 June 2016. He had always been such a healthy child – never sick and exceeding childhood milestones. Our world came crashing down and even today it still feels like we are living a nightmare, hoping that we wake up and our lives return to the normal (blissful ignorance) of pre 26 June 2016.
We are so lucky to have had Marcus in our lives. From the time of diagnosis we packed as much action and adventure as we could into the timeframe we were given. We hoped that Marcus would defy the odds but he passed on Christmas Day 2016 – one day before the six months anniversary of his diagnosis.
To our cheeky, handsome, adventurous, brave, loving and creative boy – we love you to the moon and back, we love you more than sausages. You never complained. You taught us how to love more, not to sweat the small stuff, to appreciate every moment that we have and to live life to the fullest.
A cure for DIPG must be found!